Our white minivan, aptly named Bon Qui Qui, has a built-in DVD player, as well as multiple screens for ultimate viewing pleasure. This is completely essential and definitely not an example of unnecessary opulence.
During our drive down, a few members of our trip watched "Groundhog Day." For those unfamiliar with the film, it follows the trials of tribulations of Bill Murray as he relives February 2, forever. His days become increasingly repetitive, though he loses the selfishness that consumes him at the film's onset and grows as a person.
By Wednesday, the daily routine our trip has begun to feel increasingly familiar. We rise at 5:30 in the morning, fit as many people into a bathroom as possible, shove food into our mouths, and hit the road. Everybody has developed habits and niches. Tyler always wakes up first and makes for us the world's finest elixir, a hot pot of coffee. Nick always wakes up last and makes for us nothing. *SHOTS FIRED*
I eat my breakfast in front of our heater and pretend it's a fire. Whenever anyone comes near me, I joke about how the starry sky sends me spiraling into an existential crisis. Nobody laughs, but I remain vigilant.
Of course, none of this matters. We gave up our Spring Breaks to volunteer in Carver Elementary, not to communicate our new morning routines. Based off of my takeaways from our nightly group discussions, everyone on the trip has gained a significant amount of insight from our service in the school. The Principal assigned each of us to our own classroom, meaning each trip volunteer has jumped headfirst into a position as a role model and a leader. The fact that each of us has done this without complaints shows the strength of each of our resolves. That sounds a little overconfident, but I cannot emphasize enough how proud I am of everyone's resiliency and willingness to lead.
In our classrooms, we have all noticed problems – with teachers, with students, with systematic structures and with bullying and racism, too. This was not unexpected. There's no easy solution. But we have also noticed that all of the kids want to learn and want to succeed and want to matter. We spend two hours every day talking with the school's sixth graders about college, and we see their eyes light up when they realize what they can do, what they can be. Although many of these students do not perform well on standardized tests, they are all extraordinarily intelligent and have incredible ambitions.
Kids are kids are kids. They all matter, and they're all important. And the longer we have stayed here, the longer we want to stay here. We have all received and regrettably rejected invitations from our students to stay longer.
As "Groundhog Day" goes on, Bill Murray looks forward to waking up every morning and seizes each day by the horns. And as our trip goes on, so do we. With just a few days left in our trip, we must cherish the time we have left.
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